I stalled my time by walking ever so slowly to my locker at the end of the hallway. In my mind, thought were zooming at a hundred mile per hour about all of the advice I had received that morning and the night before. I pretended to make a mistake in my combination as I waited for him. As I reached for my Vera Bradley lunch bag, (I’m not rich, it was a birthday present) I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was carrying his books against his side. The yellow incandescent lights of the school gleamed against his glossy, blonde-brown hair. I found myself staring as I dreamed over his perfect skin. Soon enough I realized that my best friend, Bailey, was walking on 15 feet behind him. She nodded her head toward him as if she was say ‘Look! Look! He’s here!’ He stopped at his locker, and Bailey came towards me.


“Go for it,” she whispered.
“I’m ready,” I said and then took a deep breath.


I closed my eyes for nearly a second and visualized the perfect way for me to introduce myself. ‘I’m ready,’ I told myself, ‘I’m confident and independent, and I’m ready.’ Slowly and steadily, I approached him. I tried to seem as comfortable as possible so I leaned my shoulder up against the locker next to him.


“Hi,” I said with my voice trembling. I felt as stupid as a rock.
“Hey,” he replied as if he was expecting me, which felt kind of creepy.

“I’m Jenny! What’s your name?” I spoke to a sing-song tune. I wish I was more fluent and cool, but what else am I supposed to do?

“I’m John.” As if this hadn’t been the most boring introduction ever, he still hadn’t shown any sign of flirtation. Maybe he wasn’t the guy I was expecting. The awkward silence had almost slipped my mind.

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” I said because I couldn’t stand the silence and I obviously couldn’t stand another moment with such pressure.

“You too,” he said as he struggled for a textbook.


I felt like an idiot. More than an idiot, I felt like a loser. He wasn’t even popular. All of my friends referred to him as a “nerd” that is on the basketball team so he seems popular. I’m a sucker for nerds anyway considering that I get straight A’s and I’m in all advanced classes. So is he. I wanted to do something outrageous, like kissing him in the middle of the empty hallway or “accidently” dropping my books so he would have to help me. But no. All I could manage to do was merely tell him my name and shake out of my skin. I had all of my friends give me advice and all weekend I thought up exactly what I was going to say to him. I could only say about 15 words. 15 words. Bailey also said that he was shy. I was shyer than him. He couldn’t be that shy. As I made my way through the empty hallway, alone, I imagined what could have happened.


Bailey met me at the lunch table.

“Oh. My. Gosh! What did you say?” Apparently she was excited.

“Well.. I just told him my name and stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“No really, I just boringly introduced myself,” I said bored or her excitement.

“Well, after you left I went up to him and asked him what you said,”

“AND??????” I asked finally intrigued into our conversation.

“He was like, ‘She told me her name and I guess she seemed nice’” She was on the tip of her toes waiting for my reaction as if he had said “she’s a beautiful girl and I want to get together with her.”

“That’s it?” I screamed with the fury of a nervousness that still existed within my veins.

“AND, he blushed and smiled as soon as I brought it up!” She said annoyed by my anger.



We linked arms and jumped in a circle together like he had asked to marry me. We squealed like little guinea pigs. Then, we stopped once we noticed that he was in our lunch period. That made my day. Even though I could have done better at introducing myself and making a first impression, I had time. A whole year and a half until I go to a different private high school, to be specific. But I knew that that time would go by ever so slowly without him by my side.